


a time to come

by erzi



Category: Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-21
Updated: 2019-05-21
Packaged: 2020-03-09 07:13:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18912109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erzi/pseuds/erzi
Summary: "Don't sigh at me!" Nyanko-sensei says, sitting down beside him with paws tucked beneath him. "There's nothing enjoyable about their monotone humming. You're the weird one here."The grass gives way as Natsume turns his face toward Nyanko-sensei. "I'm not the one going on a rant, about cicadas of all things, that no one asked for."





	a time to come

Cicadas buzz incessantly. A gentle summer breeze carries their song amid a flurry of leaves up to the sky. Natsume, lying on a small hill beyond a forest, covers his eyes with his arm to keep the debris away. When the breeze passes, he lowers his arm, a smile soft on his face. _Summer already_.

A paw swatting his forehead turns the smile to a yelp. "What are you smiling about? Don't tell me it's the cicadas! They won't shut up!"

Natsume sighs, long-suffering.

"Don't sigh at me!" Nyanko-sensei says, sitting down beside him with paws tucked beneath him. "There's nothing enjoyable about their monotone humming. You're the weird one here."

The grass gives way as Natsume turns his face toward Nyanko-sensei. "I'm not the one going on a rant, about cicadas of all things, that no one asked for."

Nyanko-sensei meows indignantly, raising a paw to further his complaint, but Natsume scratches him behind the ears to quiet him. He relaxes, squinty-eyed, nestling more comfortably on the grass.

Natsume stifles a laugh. For all of Nyanko-sensei's righteous claims he's not a cat, he's certainly settled into the role.

"You're being mean to the cicadas," Natsume tells him.

Nyanko-sensei peeks an eye, as if asking _How so?_

"They spend years underground," Natsume says, "and when they come up, all they can do is find a mate before dying." He strokes Nyanko-sensei's fur the wrong way on purpose, a little tuft forming at the top of his head. "They spend all that time getting ready to die."

Nyanko-sensei opens both eyes now, frowning as he fixes his fur. "And why are you smiling at _that_? I'm telling you, you're weird, Natsume."

"Huh?" He reaches up to his mouth. "Oh. I think it was at me messing up your fur. I'm not happy the cicadas die. What kind of person do you think I am?"

"A weird one!"

Natsume sits up, now letting himself laugh, ruffling Nyanko-sensei's head to his chagrin.

Plump clouds flit in front of the sun, leaving the hill in patchy light. Natsume's lap continues to receive light, and Nyanko-sensei toddles there, mumbling to himself, licking his paw to get his fur flat again. Natsume rests a hand on his thinly fuzzy back, looking at the sun filtered white-blue past the clouds, stray rays bursting forth and fading to nothing.

"We're probably like cicadas to you, aren't we?" he muses.

"Nmm?"

"To people, cicadas don't live long. But that's all they know, and I'm sure they don't think anything is sad about how little they do before they die." He looks back down to Nyanko-sensei. "Our lives seem full, but to you youkai they don't amount to much. So we're like cicadas to you. You blink and we're gone. Lots of the youkai we've met think I'm Reiko because time goes so much slower for you. You can't comprehend how fast our time goes or ends."

Nyanko-sensei has gone uncharacteristically still, the glint of life in his eyes flattening like the ceramic he once was.

"I bet you wish I actually was a cicada, though. Then you'd get the book earlier." He picks Nyanko-sensei up like a doll, his stubby back legs dangling. Natsume's lip turns up. "Unfortunately for you, I plan to live a very long time."

Nyanko-sensei turns his head aside with a harrumph. "You shouldn't! Old humans aren't as tasty."

"Sorry to disappoint, but that's the meal you'll be getting. You'll have to stick with me for decades if you want anything at all."

Nyanko-sensei fusses and wriggles out of Natsume's grasp, plopping himself back on his lap. "Decades for _you_ , because like you just said, your life is nothing to me. I'll have what I want soon!"

The cicadas' call has suddenly dwindled, a murmur in nature where there was a cacophony. Its muteness startles Natsume and Nyanko-sensei; they look back to the forest, expecting answers within its trees.

It is the same as always.

"That was weird," Natsume says, facing forward.

"They didn't want to hear you talk anymore and left."

He chuckles.

The wild grass is long here, with no humans to care for it. He plucks a ramet, its stem pliable, its ends feathery, and bobs it in front of Nyanko-sensei, who eagerly reaches for it.

"Nyanko-sensei," Natsume says, tone calm as always, "don't forget about me once I'm gone."

He thinks he's spoken too quietly, as Nyanko-sensei doesn't reply or seem to acknowledge he's spoken, as he's still pawing at the grass. He purses his lips together, glancing away.

Nyanko-sensei finally catches the grass. He flings it aside.

"That's a stupid thing to promise," he says, watching Natsume carefully, "so I won't."

Natsume huffs a laugh. "Yeah, that figures."

Nyanko-sensei considers him one more moment before curling up, head away from Natsume, where he can't see his small smile.

The clouds above had steadily continued their journey ever-forward, and the sun is fully freed, lighting them all once more.

**Author's Note:**

> i learned 'ramet' in ecology.. thank u university for furthering my vocabulary to nourish my fics


End file.
